Who We Are
WHO WE ARE: Welcome to your new country
To discuss if we should move from the cultural cringe to the cultural strut, go to The Tribal Mind.
A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 24/1/2010
They don't get it, they just don't get it. Too many people have yet to work out that Australia in 2010 is a different country from Australia in 1960 - as different as France is from Italy or Vietnam is from Thailand.
I don't mean we speak a different language - though that's partly true. It's more a matter of tastes, attitudes and beliefs. When was the last time you ate a lamington? When was the last time you called a woman a sheila, unless with tongue-in-cheek? Or quoted a line from The Man From Snowy River? Or discussed Don Bradman's batting average? Or admired Paul Hogan? Or ordered a cup of tea or a schooner of Toohey's?
But many of the broadcasters of this land seem not to have noticed this change. Over the past two weeks I've been promoting a new release called The Little Book of Australia, which attempts to portray this nation in the 21st century. I've been answering questions from talk jocks who live in a world of nostalgia. One asked: "David, tell us how Australia has changed in 50 years - I hope not much." I replied that Australia had transformed from one of the most boring places on the planet to one of the most interesting, because we embraced change. We became early adopters of new ideas in technology, food, entertainment and people. The love of novelty is now part of the national character - not something that would have been said about Australia in 1960.
The book's subtitle is "A snapshot of who we are", and it's no coincidence that it includes the name of this column. This reflects the help I've received in the past five years from hundreds of readers who went to the web page and offered insights. Now I'm seeking your input again. Please study the list below, then go to Comments and add your own comparisons ...
The old Australia/ The new Australia
Chiko roll/ Chicken wrap.
Eddie McGuire/ Shaun Micallef.
Owyagoin?/ Wassup?
Tea with milk and sugar/ Skim latte.
Kerry Packer/ Kerry Stokes.
Pizza with pineapple and ham/ Pizza with figs and prosciutto.
Hey Hey It's Saturday/ Thank God You're Here.
Passionfruit pavlova/ Mango gelato.
Police arresting participants in Mardi Gras/ Police becoming participants in Mardi Gras.
Albert Namitjira/ Emily Kngwarreye.
Ben Ean Moselle/ Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc.
Hey Dad/ Packed To The Rafters.
Tomato sauce/ Tomato paste.
Soy sauce/ Chilli sauce.
Fast Forward/ The Chaser's War on Everything.
Crocodile Dundee/ Mao's Last Dancer.
Bob Hawke/ Julia Gillard.
Sweet and sour pork/ Pad Thai noodles.
John Laws/ Kyle Sandilands.
Don Bradman/ Shane Warne.
Sheila/ Chick.
Bloke/ Guy.
Dag/ Retard.
VCR/ DVD.
Iced Vo Vos/ Tim tams.
Barry Humphries/ Chris Lilley.
Fish and chips/ Sushi.
Geoffrey Blainey/ Tim Flannery.
Homicide/ Underbelly.
Bert Newton/ Hamish Blake.
Chicken Maryland/ Butter chicken.
Mel Gibson/ Sam Worthington.
Meat pie/ Gozleme with mince beef.
Kylie Minogue/ Ruby Rose.
Vegemite/ Nutella.
Thongs/ Havianas.
John Farnham/ Guy Sebastian
Corn flakes/ Muesli.
The transistor radio/ The iPod.
Lamingtons/ Cupcakes.
While you're extending the list at Comments, below, tell us which transformations were for the better and which for the worse.
To win a copy of The Little Book of Australia, go to The patriotic quiz.
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in whoweare-index at 11:33 PM
- Comments (23)
The Big 50: A patriotic quiz
To compare 21st century Australia with 20th century Australia, go to Another country.
This week Sun-Herald columnist David Dale releases The Little Book of Australia, which summarises everything you need to know about the carefree country in the 21st century. To mark our national day, he has constructed a slightly tongue-in-cheek quiz that tests whether or not you need the book, and he offers a chance for 10 readers to win copies.
Give yourself 1 point for each correct answer. A perfect score would be 80. A total of less than 50 means you should go back to school, move to New Zealand, or try to win the contest in the final question. Go here for the answers (but not yet), and below for the limericks.
1. What's the population today?
2. Give the sources of these expressions: "Not happy, Jan"; "Puck you, miss"; "Tell 'em they're dreamin".
3. What percentage of Australians say they are: a) Muslim; b) Buddhist; c) "No religion".
4. Where are the Big Banana, the Big Merino, the Big Pineapple?
5. Who is this: "Cut and come again is his name, and cut and come again is his nature"?
6. Identify this person, and rank him in order of popularity against Magda Szubanski and Hugh Jackman (as measured by the Q-scores survey)
7. What percentage of couples cohabit before marriage?
8. What was the bilby originally called?
9. What is the national dish - as in, the meal Australians say they cook most often at home?
10. What are the two fastest growing cities in the land?
11. Match these athletes with their sports: a) Layne Beachley; b) Betty Cuthbert; c) Sarah Fitz-Gerald; d) Anne Sargeant; e) Karrie Webb. 1) running; 2) golf; 3) squash; 4) surfing; 5) netball.
12. Name, in order, the three most common causes of death.
13. What are the national colours, the national flower and the national gemstone?
14. Name this woman. She is to women's liberation as [Man's Name?] is to animal liberation.
15. What percentage of Australians agree with this statement: "A woman should have the right to choose whether or not she has an abortion"?
16. What was the most watched non-sporting TV program of the 21st century? And of the 20th century?
17. Complete these phrases: "Flash as ..." ; "I'll rip yer ..." ; "Wouldn't shout in ..."
18. They starred in the most successful Australian film of the decade. Name them and it.
19. Who invented: the bionic ear; controlled crying; the black box flight recorder?
20. In the line "the colt from old Regret had got away", was old Regret a ranch or a horse? What was the colt worth?
21. Which of these politicians is not a practising catholic - Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, Kristina Keneally, Joe Hockey, Barry O'Farrell?
22. Who smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich?
23. What is Australia's top selling beer? And wine?
24. Underbelly was the story of which Melbourne crime family? And which would-be crime boss?
25. Who led the Aboriginal rebellion against the British invasion between 1790 and 1802?
26. What percentage of births are to unmarried mothers?
27. Name this icon, and its inventor. While you're at it, name the inventors of Vegemite and the Paddle Pop.
28. What four words came after the phrase: "That's not a knife; THAT's a knife"? In what film?
29. What is Australia's tallest mountain, tallest building?
30. The highest price paid for an Australian painting was $3.48 million. What was it?
31. Which capital has the highest salary earners, the longest life expectancy and the most same-sex partnerships?
32. What do we have to share with those who've come across the seas?
33. What are Akubra hats made from?
34. Each year, every Australian consumes 64kg of what vegetable?
35. What suburb is Edna Everage from?
36. Made with sultana, gordo and muscat grapes, which wine sold seven million bottles a year in the early 1970s?
37. Who was the greatest batsman of all time and what was his Test batting average?
38. Which prime ministers do we associate with these phrases: "the recession we had to have"; "relaxed and comfortable"; "fair shake of the sauce bottle".
39. Which country gave us thongs, pavlova and our top-selling wine?
40. On what does the average adult spend 21 hours and 48 minutes a week? And nine hours and 24 minutes a week on what?
41. What company created The Loud Shirt?
42. According to testing by the Bureau of Statistics, what percentage of Australians lack skills that are "the minimum required to meet the complex demands of everyday life"?
43. Name these men. Why was the one on the left banned from live television in 1975?
44. How much do we put through poker machines each year? How much do we win back?
45. Who is Australia's top selling author?
46. By what other names were the gumnut babies Snugglepot and Cuddlepie known?
47. By what other names are the radio presenters John Doyle and Greg Pickaver known?
48. What do Elizabeth Blackburn; Patrick White and Barry Marshall have in common?
49. To what did iSnack2.0 change its name?
50. Compose a limerick (five lines) that includes the words "ute" and "chilli". The 10 wittiest works will win copies of The Little Book of Australia. Go down to Comments to lodge your entry. And go to The answers to check yourself on the other 49 questions (you can also lodge your limerick there).
To discuss if we should move from the cultural cringe to the cultural strut, go to The Tribal Mind.
To compare 21st century Australia with 20th century Australia, go to Who We Are.
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in whoweare-index at 06:49 PM
- Comments (83)
The Tribal Mind: How good are we!
To compare 21st century Australia with 20th century Australia, go to Another country.
by David Dale
Yeah, yeah, Toni Collette plays a bunch of Americans and wins a Golden Globe, but is it enough? As we approach January 26, patriotism requires this column to examine the success of Australian entertainment ventures at home and abroad and to ask the question: Are we currently gripped by a cultural cringe or entitled to a cultural strut?
The case for the cringe: We're barely buying our own music. There was not one Australian album in the top ten for 2009. Number 1 is Susan Boyle, 2 is P!nk, 3 is Black Eyed Peas, 4 is Taylor Swift and 5 is Lily Allen. The first Aussie effort appears at the 12 spot - State of the Art by Hilltop Hoods.
Nor is there any local work among the top five singles, a chart dominated by Black Eyed Peas. The first glimpse of green and gold among the singles is at No 7, with Guy Sebastian's Like It Like That.
Of course an optimist might take the view that P!nk is an honorary Australian, since she spent half of last year in our hemisphere and is more popular here than in her homeland. She could enjoy the same status as that excellent Aussie ensemble Abba.
The cinema box office chart also holds little cheer for the nationalist. Mao's Last Dancer made $15.2 million and revived the career of director Bruce Beresford, but it featured American and Chinese actors, and was set in China and America (even if filmed in Sydney). A sharp-eyed contributor to the movie website imdb.com recently added this detail to the Mao's Last Dancer entry: "Errors in geography. When Liz is leaving for San Francisco, she is driving out of the street. In the corner, it is obvious there is a street post saying 'Darling St', with the City of Sydney logo on it. This scene is played in Houston."
The next most successful local movies were Charlie and Boots, with ticket sales of $3.7m and Samson and Delilah, with $3.2m. You can't exactly claim that we love our own stories.
The story for the strut: Our actors bestride the universe. This column used to argue that the most bankable actor in the world was Hugo Weaving, based on the total earnings of his films (including three Matrixes and three Lord of the Rings). He was briefly surpassed by Harrison Ford in 2008, when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out (and remember who was Ford's costar), but he climbed back on top by voicing a giant robot in two Transformers flicks.
Now Weaving looks like getting bumped again, but he won't mind, because his replacement will be a fellow Aussie -- Sam Worthington, who has appeared in the blockbusters Terminator: Salvation, Avatar and Clash of the Titans.
The only other contender for the most bankable title is yet another Aussie -- Eric Bana, with a list that includes Troy, Hulk, Munich, Star Trek, The Time Traveller's Wife and Funny People, where he was actually allowed to use an Australian accent. Of course they could all be passed ultimately by Canberra's own Mia Wasikowska, who has just completed Alice in Wonderland and is moving on to Jane Eyre.
Lets turn to television. Here is every Australian I can find who worked in an American television series during 2009: Simon Baker (The Mentalist); Rose Byrne (Damages); Alan Dale (Ugly Betty, Lost); Emily de Ravin (Lost); Melissa George (Grey's Anatomy); Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters); Stephanie Jacobsen (The Sarah Connor Chronicles); Ryan Kwanted (True Blood); Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse); Anthony LaPaglia (Without A Trace); Ben Lawson (The Deep End); Julian McMahon (Nip/ Tuck); Poppy Montgomery (Without A Trace); John Noble (Fringe); Jesse Spencer (House); Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck); Rachael Taylor (Washingtonienne); Anna Torv (Fringe).
Stirring stuff. Compare that with the number of British actors on US television. We've knocked our former colonial masters out of the game.
Go to Comments to suggest any other reasons to strut on Tuesday.
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 11:10 PM
- Comments (0)
The patriotic quiz: Answers
To compare 21st century Australia with 20th century Australia, go to Who We Are.
To discuss if we should move from the cultural cringe to the cultural strut, go to The Tribal Mind.
Below are the answers to an Australia Day quiz, in which the 50th question could win you a copy of The Little Book of Australia. Go here for the questions -- because there's not a lot of point in reading the answers without them.
1. 22,128,000.
2. TV ad for the Yellow Pages; Jonah in Summer Heights High; Darryl Kerrigan in The Castle.
3. a) 1.7 per cent; b) 2.1 per cent; c) 19 per cent.
4. Coffs Harbour, NSW; Goulburn NSW; Nambour Qld.
5. Albert, The Magic Pudding.
6. 1 Hamish Blake; 2 Hugh Jackman; 3 Magda Szubanski.
7. 74 per cent.
8. The rabbit eared bandicoot
9. Spaghetti bolognese.
10. Perth and Cairns.
11. a4; b1; c3; d5; e2.
12. Cancer, heart disease, stroke.
13. Green and gold; the golden wattle; the opal.
14. Germaine Greer; Peter Singer.
15. 84 per cent
16. MasterChef winner announced; Diana Spencer's funeral.
17. A rat with a gold tooth; bloody arms off; a shark attack.
18. Nicole Kidman and Brandon Walters; Australia.
19. Graeme Clark; Christopher Green; David Warren.
20. A horse; a thousand pound (in The Man From Snowy River).
21. None.
22. A man in Brussels (in the song Down Under).
23. VB; Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc.
24. The Morans; Carl Williams.
25. Pemulwuy.
26. 32 per cent.
27. Chiko roll - Frank McEnroe; Vegemite - Cyril Callister; Paddle Pop - Edwin Street. 28. "Just kids having fun." Crocodile Dundee.
29. Kosciusko; Q1 on the Gold Coast.
30. Brett Whiteley's "The Olgas for Ernest Giles".
31. Canberra.
32. Boundless plains.
33. Rabbit skins
34. Potatoes.
35. Moonee Ponds, Melbourne.
36. Ben ean moselle.
37. Don Bradman; 99.94 runs.
38. Paul Keating; John Howard; Kevin Rudd.
39. New Zealand.
40. Watching TV; the internet.
41. Mambo.
42. 68 per cent.
43. Graham Kennedy, Stephen Curry. Doing a crow call that started with F.
44. $80 billion. $70 billion.
45. Bryce Courtenay
46. Bib and Bub.
47. Roy Slaven and H. G Nelson.
48. The Nobel Prize.
49. Cheesybite.
50. Put your limerick into comments
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in whoweare-index at 05:28 PM
- Comments (23)
The Who We Are update: The last weeks of the silly season
This week's forum is now a heritage item - worth studying but no longer current. For the latest on Australian attitudes and media trends, go to blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To discuss why Love Actually is all around, and the other DVDs in most Australian homes, go to The Tribal Mind.
The ratings race, updated 10 am Monday
This was pay TV's account of itself for the week: "The American Idol Auditions in Los Angeles set a new record for the program with 173,000 viewers on FOX8 on Wednesday night. Midsomer Murders on UKTV was watched by 131,000 people, America's Next Top Model on FOX8 had 109,000 viewers and Law & Order: SVU on TV1 was watched by 95,000 people. Taggart on 13th Street was watched by 91,000 people, Come Dine With Me Australia on Lifestyle was seen by 91,000 viewers and As The Bell Rings on Disney Channel had 90,000 viewers. Hoarders on Bio had the best ever result for the program with 79,000 viewers, Saturday's First Edition on Sky News had 69,000 viewers and Toddlers and Tiaras premiered on Lifestyle You with 65,000 viewers.
"In sport, Sky Racing's Sky Raceday was seen by 74,000 people, Live: Football: A-League Newc v Sydney on FOX Sports was watched by 63,000 people and Live: Cricket: Ford Ranger Cup on FOX Sports was viewed by 54,000 people.
"Subscription TV channels accounted for 23.1% of all metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight, 21.6% of all regional viewing and 57.5% of all viewing in subscription TV homes."
What viewers aged 16-39 watched, week ending January 30, 2010
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 8 NIGHT SESSION Seven 485,000 153,000 164,000 85,000 49,000 34,000
2 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 10 NIGHT SESSION Seven 410,000 141,000 136,000 73,000 36,000 24,000
3 ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN GAME 2 SESSION 2 Nine 344,000 89,000 96,000 87,000 30,000 41,000
4 THE ALL NEW SIMPSONS WED Ten 332,000 78,000 110,000 67,000 34,000 43,000
5 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 9 NIGHT SESSION Seven 331,000 99,000 116,000 59,000 33,000 24,000
6 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 329,000 87,000 112,000 69,000 28,000 35,000
7 INSIDE MAN RPT Ten 322,000 88,000 95,000 75,000 36,000 27,000
8 FUTURAMA WED RPT Ten 316,000 62,000 98,000 68,000 33,000 54,000
9 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 12 NIGHT SESSION Seven 315,000 104,000 93,000 76,000 21,000 20,000
10 ADULTS ONLY 20 TO 1 -RPT Nine 306,000 101,000 97,000 37,000 24,000 48,000
11 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 11 NIGHT SESSION Seven 306,000 102,000 85,000 67,000 34,000 18,000
12 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - WOMEN'S FINAL Seven 303,000 91,000 114,000 50,000 17,000 30,000
13 THE SIMPSONS WED Ten 288,000 70,000 106,000 46,000 20,000 46,000
14 THE CLEVELAND SHOW Ten 287,000 73,000 100,000 47,000 23,000 44,000
15 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE THURS Ten 268,000 64,000 79,000 70,000 23,000 33,000
16 THE BREAK-UP RPT Ten 266,000 78,000 59,000 58,000 28,000 43,000
17 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN - GAME 3 SESSION 2 Nine 266,000 71,000 80,000 55,000 32,000 28,000
18 HOME AND AWAY Seven 265,000 84,000 83,000 46,000 25,000 27,000
19 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 264,000 75,000 92,000 51,000 18,000 28,000
20 THE ALL NEW SIMPSONS Ten 263,000 68,000 90,000 47,000 30,000 28,000
21 ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN RPT Ten 260,000 63,000 85,000 55,000 30,000 28,000
22 THE SECRET MILLIONAIRE -RPT Nine 237,000 63,000 80,000 47,000 22,000 25,000
23 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE FRI Ten 236,000 66,000 53,000 59,000 21,000 37,000
24 NCIS RPT Ten 231,000 55,000 81,000 56,000 18,000 20,000
25 TWO AND A HALF MEN -MON Nine 230,000 58,000 62,000 48,000 25,000 37,000
26 ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN GAME 4 SESSION 2 Nine 229,000 68,000 61,000 49,000 18,000 33,000
27 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 229,000 35,000 72,000 58,000 35,000 30,000
28 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 228,000 72,000 68,000 44,000 22,000 22,000
29 COLD CASE -EP2 Nine 226,000 76,000 46,000 39,000 22,000 44,000
30 SEVEN NEWS Seven 226,000 68,000 60,000 49,000 25,000 24,000
(OzTAM mainland capitals)
The ratings race, updated 10 am Sunday
The "official" ratings year is about to start, and the stations are bringing back their hits and exposing their novelties. What's got you excited?
Personally, this column wants to see how Dr House survives the loony bin (Ten, late Sunday), whom Susan, Mike or Katherine is marrying (Seven, 8.30 Monday) and whether Issy or George or both are dead (Seven, 8.30 Tuesday). Couldn't care less about dancers (Ten, 7.30 Sunday), or fatties (Ten, 7.30 Monday) or masterchef-imitators (Seven, 7.30 Monday). No doubt your tastes are more discerning. Tell us about them.
What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,240,000 222,000 373,000 282,000 153,000 211,000
2 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - WOMEN'S FINAL Seven 1,128,000 309,000 422,000 205,000 83,000 109,000
3 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 950,000 277,000 332,000 160,000 103,000 78,000
4 ABC NEWS-SA ABC1 884,000 225,000 306,000 138,000 101,000 115,000
5 THE BILL ABC1 686,000 185,000 162,000 140,000 87,000 111,000
6 TAGGART ABC1 676,000 178,000 154,000 131,000 97,000 116,000
7 WIPEOUT Nine 669,000 154,000 202,000 134,000 94,000 85,000
8 TEN NEWS AT FIVE SAT Ten 651,000 147,000 206,000 130,000 62,000 107,000
9 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - WOMEN'S FINAL PREVIEW Seven 588,000 180,000 302,000 106,000
10 NANNY MCPHEE RPT Ten 586,000 134,000 150,000 133,000 84,000 85,000
14 DALZIEL AND PASCOE RPT ABC1 509,000 151,000 156,000 49,000 81,000 72,000
29 IRON CHEF SBS ONE 246,000 68,000 100,000 39,000 23,000 17,000
31 ROCKWIZ RPT SBS ONE 240,000 63,000 69,000 49,000 28,000 30,000
45 TRANSAMERICA RPT SBS ONE 136,000 38,000 46,000 24,000
56 HAMISH MACBETH ABC2 112,000 34,000 44,000 8,000 6,000 19,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,461,000 364,000 470,000 261,000 160,000 207,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,328,000 331,000 460,000 244,000 126,000 167,000
3 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 12 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,204,000 391,000 392,000 230,000 101,000 90,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,129,000 300,000 340,000 250,000 131,000 108,000
5 MIDSOMER MURDERS RPT ABC1 1,047,000 253,000 339,000 184,000 120,000 151,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 963,000 239,000 328,000 165,000 116,000 114,000
7 ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN GAME 4 SESSION 2 Nine 872,000 230,000 271,000 173,000 88,000 110,000
11 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE FRI Ten 641,000 182,000 169,000 133,000 69,000 89,000
13 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 574,000 151,000 139,000 155,000 48,000 81,000
16 NEIGHBOURS Ten 508,000 136,000 140,000 105,000 66,000 61,000
17 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 446,000 133,000 125,000 75,000 55,000 58,000
21 SUNRISE Seven 354,000 111,000 57,000 110,000 29,000 47,000
24 TRAWLERMEN SBS ONE 305,000 71,000 87,000 62,000 32,000 53,000
25 TODAY Nine 294,000 102,000 81,000 56,000 22,000 33,000
26 EROTIC TALES 1 RPT SBS ONE 257,000 85,000 70,000 48,000 24,000 30,000
29 EROTIC TALES 2 RPT SBS ONE 250,000 62,000 85,000 45,000 27,000 31,000
37 AIRLINE USA 7TWO 186,000 24,000 64,000 36,000 34,000 28,000
41 TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH ABC2 170,000 51,000 31,000 40,000 20,000 29,000
48 GHOST SHIP GO! 152,000 40,000 61,000 24,000 16,000 12,000
60 POIROT ABC1 129,000 20,000 45,000 26,000 17,000 20,000
66 THE BENNY HILL SHOW 7TWO 125,000 13,000 34,000 43,000 17,000 19,000
What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 11 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,236,000 371,000 412,000 223,000 127,000 104,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,216,000 316,000 338,000 251,000 148,000 163,000
3 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,184,000 335,000 415,000 234,000 85,000 115,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,122,000 320,000 318,000 208,000 134,000 143,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,094,000 337,000 334,000 228,000 101,000 94,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,004,000 275,000 298,000 198,000 138,000 96,000
7 ABC NEWS ABC1 995,000 290,000 320,000 165,000 82,000 138,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 975,000 257,000 370,000 185,000 68,000 96,000
9 ADULTS ONLY 20 TO 1 -RPT Nine 937,000 295,000 269,000 146,000 89,000 138,000
10 THE SECRET MILLIONAIRE -RPT Nine 817,000 224,000 262,000 150,000 79,000 101,000
11 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 795,000 223,000 201,000 166,000 94,000 112,000
12 CSI: NY Nine 780,000 217,000 211,000 139,000 107,000 106,000
15 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE THURS Ten 637,000 172,000 189,000 132,000 69,000 75,000
16 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 566,000 164,000 138,000 147,000 60,000 56,000
18 FRANCESCO'S MEDITERRANEAN VOYAGE ABC1 559,000 161,000 138,000 121,000 38,000 100,000
21 NEIGHBOURS Ten 503,000 155,000 123,000 92,000 83,000 50,000
22 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 497,000 184,000 127,000 76,000 56,000 54,000
24 SEVEN AGES OF ROCK ABC1 462,000 120,000 143,000 76,000 50,000 72,000
29 SUNRISE Seven 318,000 77,000 47,000 108,000 38,000 48,000
30 GOURMET FARMER SBS ONE 316,000 98,000 114,000 59,000 12,000 32,000
31 OZ AND JAMES'S BIG WINE ADVENTURE SBS ONE 301,000 81,000 112,000 62,000 16,000 31,000
33 TODAY Nine 290,000 103,000 82,000 49,000 22,000 35,000
43 STARGATE ATLANTIS 7TWO 219,000 48,000 52,000 68,000 29,000 21,000
50 FIFTH GEAR 7TWO 169,000 29,000 63,000 39,000 16,000 22,000
59 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC2 143,000 46,000 21,000 40,000 18,000 17,000
66 E.R. GO! 134,000 29,000 47,000 21,000 22,000 15,000
80 UFC WIRED ONE 115,000 11,000 36,000 35,000 19,000 14,000
100 GOSSIP GIRL GO! 90,000 16,000 33,000 19,000 8,000 14,000
What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,443,000 392,000 394,000 269,000 175,000 213,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,361,000 363,000 374,000 284,000 155,000 186,000
3 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 10 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,351,000 421,000 454,000 252,000 117,000 108,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,135,000 320,000 343,000 249,000 111,000 112,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,104,000 357,000 313,000 184,000 136,000 114,000
6 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,060,000 305,000 356,000 225,000 74,000 100,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 980,000 270,000 309,000 211,000 71,000 118,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC1 954,000 257,000 276,000 179,000 103,000 139,000
9 COLD CASE -EP1 Nine 938,000 265,000 250,000 186,000 99,000 138,000
10 COLD CASE -EP2 Nine 907,000 244,000 272,000 150,000 105,000 137,000
11 SUPERSTARS OF DANCE Nine 797,000 227,000 217,000 181,000 62,000 110,000
13 THE ALL NEW SIMPSONS WED Ten 681,000 170,000 209,000 124,000 97,000 81,000
18 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 589,000 151,000 156,000 145,000 66,000 70,000
21 THE CLEVELAND SHOW Ten 523,000 118,000 187,000 74,000 67,000 77,000
22 NEIGHBOURS Ten 505,000 159,000 130,000 89,000 80,000 47,000
25 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 444,000 156,000 118,000 66,000 52,000 53,000
29 SUNRISE Seven 366,000 98,000 62,000 99,000 45,000 63,000
32 TODAY Nine 315,000 113,000 82,000 63,000 17,000 41,000
38 REX IN ROME SBS ONE 243,000 74,000 60,000 33,000 27,000 48,000
41 INSPECTOR REX SBS ONE 225,000 74,000 65,000 26,000 22,000 38,000
54 NEW AMSTERDAM GO! 157,000 35,000 52,000 28,000 24,000 18,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS Nine 1,315,000 374,000 448,000 239,000 149,000 105,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,184,000 293,000 389,000 229,000 128,000 144,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,154,000 235,000 365,000 224,000 163,000 166,000
4 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 9 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,152,000 325,000 411,000 215,000 107,000 94,000
5 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN - GAME 3 SESSION 2 Nine 1,088,000 260,000 339,000 224,000 138,000 128,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 838,000 232,000 266,000 157,000 105,000 77,000
7 NCIS RPT Ten 838,000 183,000 285,000 172,000 101,000 98,000
8 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN - GAME 3 SESSION 1 Nine 823,000 220,000 246,000 151,000 92,000 114,000
14 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 513,000 135,000 132,000 158,000 52,000 35,000
15 WHY ANCIENT EGYPT FELL ABC1 512,000 152,000 115,000 107,000 68,000 70,000
17 NEIGHBOURS Ten 420,000 121,000 133,000 88,000 52,000 25,000
18 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 386,000 108,000 126,000 74,000 48,000 31,000
19 BUSH SLAM ABC1 371,000 95,000 113,000 67,000 47,000 48,000
43 BIG LOVE SBS ONE 167,000 48,000 66,000 32,000 16,000 6,000
47 UGLY BETTY 7TWO 160,000 37,000 43,000 46,000 11,000 23,000
60 SEINFELD GO! 134,000 16,000 73,000 21,000 15,000 8,00020,000
What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 8 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,631,000 487,000 566,000 309,000 145,000 123,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,440,000 362,000 423,000 294,000 163,000 197,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,395,000 334,000 439,000 264,000 150,000 207,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,054,000 273,000 315,000 180,000 139,000 147,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,045,000 266,000 380,000 191,000 100,000 109,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 969,000 274,000 318,000 155,000 90,000 132,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 958,000 279,000 330,000 182,000 80,000 87,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 787,000 198,000 270,000 148,000 76,000 96,000
14 THE MIDDLE Nine 606,000 173,000 182,000 111,000 59,000 80,000
16 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 566,000 144,000 181,000 126,000 61,000 54,000
21 NEIGHBOURS Ten 452,000 140,000 126,000 69,000 74,000 42,000
23 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 434,000 159,000 122,000 58,000 45,000 50,000
28 MYTHBUSTERS SBS ONE 359,000 68,000 100,000 81,000 46,000 65,000
40 HEARTBEAT 7TWO 224,000 57,000 72,000 42,000 22,000 30,000
44 MOTHER AND SON 7TWO 188,000 41,000 89,000 19,000 17,000 22,000
52 JUDGE JOHN DEED 7TWO 157,000 35,000 37,000 33,000 18,000 34,000
74 THE FIXER SBS ONE 115,000 28,000 38,000 15,000 14,000 75 DOCTOR WHO-LE ABC2 112,000 25,000 22,000 30,000 20,000 15,000
81 NIP/TUCK GO! 103,000 32,000 35,000 13,000 14,000 9,000
83 ENTOURAGE SBS ONE 101,000 22,000 40,000 15,000 11,000 13,000
89 FULL HOUSE 7TWO 92,000 32,000 31,000 16,000 7,000 6,000
94 DANTE'S COVE GO! 86,000 25,000 33,000 10,000 9,000 8,000
119 LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN Ten 72,000 20,000 19,000 8,000 13,000 11,000
The ratings race, updated 10 am Monday
This was Pay TV's account of itself for the week: "The final of the domestic Twenty20 on FOX Sports set a new subscription TV viewership record for the game when 307,000 viewers watched Victoria beat South Australia in Live: Cricket: Twenty20 Big Bash. The match gave Victoria its fourth Twenty20 title in five years and generated STV audiences that were larger than the 2008 and 2009 T20 finals of 274,000 and 259,000 people respectively and close to the 358,000 peak audience achieved during the Australia/South Africa cricket tests of 2009.
"In entertainment programming, 128,000 people watched the Chicago episode of American Idol Auditions on FOX8 and Disney Channel's The Suite Life On Deck had its best result of the last 12 months when 126,000 people saw the program on Monday afternoon. Come Dine With Me Australia premiered on the Lifestyle Channel with 116,000 viewers, Midsomer Murders on UKTV had 112,000 viewers, iCarly on Nickelodeon was watched by 84,000 people and Law & Order: SVU on TV1 was seen by 77,000 people. Yes Man premiered on Movie One with 70,000 viewers, The Outlaw Josey Wales was seen by 58,000 on FOX Classics and Two and a Half Men was watched by 56,000 viewers on Arena.
"Subscription TV channels won the fourth week of 2010 with 23.7% of all metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight, 22.8% of all regional viewing and 60.2% of all viewing in subscription TV homes."
What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,276,000 355,000 439,000 244,000 144,000 95,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,268,000 332,000 307,000 274,000 144,000 212,000
3 ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN GAME 2 SESSION 2 Nine 1,084,000 282,000 325,000 233,000 117,000 127,000
4 INSIDE MAN RPT Ten 891,000 235,000 278,000 165,000 114,000 99,000
5 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC1 878,000 259,000 286,000 145,000 67,000 121,000
6 ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN GAME 2 SESSION 1 Nine 863,000 247,000 234,000 177,000 96,000 110,000
7 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 7 NIGHT SESSION Seven 839,000 210,000 289,000 170,000 88,000 82,000
8 ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN RPT Ten 766,000 171,000 234,000 151,000 121,000 89,000
12 M-LUCKY MILES ABC1 519,000 145,000 140,000 92,000 65,000 77,000
16 WALLACE AND GROMIT'S CRACKING CONTRAPTIONS ABC1 437,000 113,000 118,000 79,000 42,000 86,000
33 WIPEOUT GO! 173,000 42,000 69,000 27,000 20,000 14,000
34 THE ROLLING STONES: TRUTH AND LIES RPT ABC1 160,000 47,000 43,000 33,000 19,000 18,000
40 GREY'S ANATOMY 7TWO 130,000 30,000 39,000 16,000 19,000 25,000
54 SEX AND THE CITY Ten 109,000 31,000 46,000 14,000 3,000 15,000
83 CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM GO! 78,000 23,000 35,000 9,000 7,000 3,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,186,000 362,000 306,000 231,000 127,000 161,000
2 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 6 NIGHT SESSION Seven 982,000 279,000 362,000 174,000 89,000 79,000
3 AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2010-PREVIEW Seven 946,000 279,000 302,000 178,000 91,000 96,000
4 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 920,000 301,000 310,000 156,000 78,000 76,000
5 ABC NEWS-SA ABC1 776,000 201,000 233,000 122,000 89,000 132,000
6 THE BILL ABC1 762,000 219,000 170,000 150,000 97,000 126,000
7 TAGGART ABC1 717,000 196,000 206,000 102,000 103,000 111,000
11 WIPEOUT Nine 607,000 187,000 175,000 113,000 66,000 67,000
12 BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III RPT Ten 605,000 202,000 161,000 98,000 71,000 73,000
14 REBUS RPT ABC1 493,000 113,000 162,000 61,000 80,000 77,000
16 BED OF ROSES RPT ABC1 471,000 112,000 138,000 99,000 50,000 72,000
18 VAN HELSING RPT Ten 364,000 116,000 128,000 45,000 44,000 31,000
19 PAYCHECK -RPT Nine 347,000 97,000 89,000 64,000 47,000 50,000
21 STUART LITTLE 2 -RPT Nine 334,000 106,000 95,000 46,000 57,000 29,000
22 MYTHBUSTERS RPT SBS ONE 322,000 81,000 103,000 63,000 34,000 40,000
25 IRON CHEF SBS ONE 279,000 90,000 92,000 36,000 27,000 34,000
36 GREEN ACRES GO! 163,000 54,000 61,000 19,000 18,000 9,000
38 M-FLYING LEATHERNECKS ABC2 141,000 32,000 47,000 32,000 11,000 20,000
42 THE NANNY GO! 138,000 33,000 52,000 22,000 24,000 7,000
49 60 MINUTE MAKEOVER 7TWO 112,000 9,000 57,000 16,000 19,000 11,000
53 MICHAEL PALIN'S NEW EUROPE 7TWO 111,000 30,000 32,000 23,000 14,000 12,000
What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS Nine 1,298,000 377,000 446,000 240,000 122,000 113,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,158,000 273,000 347,000 230,000 126,000 182,000
3 ONE DAY CRICKET -AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN GAME 1 SESSION 2 Nine 1,103,000 294,000 304,000 252,000 144,000 108,000
4 MIDSOMER MURDERS RPT ABC1 1,047,000 303,000 288,000 187,000 128,000 141,000
5 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,029,000 262,000 270,000 189,000 146,000 163,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 806,000 205,000 263,000 135,000 99,000 105,000
7 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 718,000 187,000 183,000 159,000 90,000 99,000
8 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 5 NIGHT SESSION Seven 627,000 174,000 201,000 121,000 74,000 56,000
11 LOVE ACTUALLY RPT Ten 560,000 179,000 162,000 91,000 66,000 62,000
18 MACBETH Nine 376,000 98,000 140,000 54,000 38,000 46,000
27 EROTIC TALES 2 RPT SBS ONE 239,000 82,000 54,000 48,000 30,000 26,000
33 EROTIC TALES 1 RPT SBS ONE 204,000 72,000 45,000 43,000 24,000 20,000
39 EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS -RPT Nine 176,000 54,000 72,000 26,000 10,000 14,000
96 BREAKING BAD ABC2 82,000 29,000 11,000 24,000 8,000 10,000
What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,300,000 335,000 392,000 249,000 158,000 166,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,232,000 306,000 365,000 251,000 146,000 165,000
3 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 4 NIGHT SESSION Seven 987,000 274,000 330,000 182,000 106,000 94,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 957,000 226,000 343,000 220,000 85,000 84,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 956,000 243,000 316,000 216,000 93,000 87,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 818,000 225,000 219,000 149,000 93,000 132,000
7 THE SECRET MILLIONAIRE -RPT Nine 764,000 175,000 264,000 174,000 75,000 76,000
15 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 540,000 124,000 177,000 107,000 79,000 53,000
16 FRANCESCO'S MEDITERRANEAN VOYAGE ABC1 538,000 173,000 132,000 120,000 39,000 73,000
25 SEVEN AGES OF ROCK ABC1 378,000 117,000 117,000 57,000 34,000 54,000
35 OZ AND JAMES'S BIG WINE ADVENTURE SBS ONE 265,000 37,000 110,000 52,000 29,000 37,000
36 GOURMET FARMER SBS ONE 263,000 76,000 76,000 43,000 29,000 38,000
42 STARGATE ATLANTIS 7TWO 199,000 53,000 64,000 39,000 25,000 18,000
53 MOTHER AND SON 7TWO 156,000 19,000 57,000 33,000 23,000 23,000
56 FIFTH GEAR 7TWO 148,000 19,000 42,000 37,000 18,000 32,000
60 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC2 141,000 41,000 44,000 22,000 13,000 21,000
75 THE IT CROWD ABC2 115,000 29,000 35,000 25,000 14,000 11,000
80 E.R. GO! 109,000 23,000 26,000 26,000 22,000 13,000
86 LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN Ten 100,000 32,000 30,000 11,000 18,000 10,000
87 SEINFELD GO! 100,000 20,000 37,000 18,000 13,000 12,000
94 FULL HOUSE 7TWO 93,000 30,000 33,000 20,000 6,000 4,000
105 GOSSIP GIRL GO! 83,000 20,000 26,000 22,000 10,000 5,000
122 ALF 7TWO 71,000 14,000 22,000 20,000 13,000 2,000
135 CRAP RAP ABC2 64,000 13,000 21,000 10,000 10,000 9,000
What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,134,000 268,000 312,000 234,000 134,000 185,000
2 NINE NEWS Nine 1,129,000 291,000 381,000 225,000 112,000 121,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,116,000 258,000 330,000 222,000 132,000 174,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,024,000 251,000 354,000 232,000 76,000 111,000
5 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 3 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,004,000 280,000 334,000 188,000 115,000 87,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 892,000 295,000 251,000 139,000 78,000 129,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 874,000 199,000 295,000 196,000 62,000 121,000
8 THE ALL NEW SIMPSONS WED Ten 840,000 209,000 255,000 156,000 99,000 121,000
11 SUPERSTARS OF DANCE Nine 744,000 165,000 232,000 167,000 63,000 117,000
14 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 619,000 184,000 158,000 139,000 73,000 65,000
15 THE CLEVELAND SHOW Ten 601,000 164,000 189,000 103,000 55,000 90,000
17 THE SIMPSONS WED Ten 578,000 151,000 193,000 108,000 48,000 78,000
21 NEIGHBOURS Ten 426,000 126,000 106,000 78,000 70,000 46,000
22 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 425,000 110,000 142,000 59,000 58,000 55,000
23 CALIFORNICATION WED Ten 394,000 96,000 144,000 80,000 32,000 43,000
45 CHANDON PICTURES ABC1 186,000 38,000 51,000 31,000 27,000 38,000
46 NEW AMSTERDAM GO! 182,000 32,000 72,000 31,000 28,000 19,000
63 I SURVIVED A JAPANESE GAME SHOW 7TWO 136,000 14,000 35,000 51,000 14,000 22,000
92 FRINGE GO! 97,000 14,000 34,000 21,000 16,000 11,000
134 FULL HOUSE 7TWO 67,000 11,000 25,000 20,000 7,000 3,000
174 ALF 7TWO 42,000 8,000 11,000 14,000 8,000 1,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,301,000 303,000 373,000 265,000 161,000 198,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,167,000 280,000 329,000 224,000 152,000 182,000
3 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,130,000 319,000 426,000 196,000 78,000 110,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,064,000 287,000 368,000 210,000 98,000 101,000
5 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,020,000 254,000 398,000 169,000 76,000 124,000
6 NCIS RPT Ten 1,008,000 305,000 272,000 190,000 119,000 122,000
7 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 2 NIGHT SESSION Seven 970,000 273,000 332,000 164,000 116,000 84,000
8 SURVIVOR: SAMOA -EP2 Nine 897,000 262,000 253,000 172,000 103,000 107,000
9 SURVIVOR: SAMOA -EP1 Nine 895,000 273,000 255,000 154,000 104,000 109,000
10 ABC NEWS-EV ABC1 843,000 228,000 259,000 152,000 85,000 119,000
15 THE OFFICE TUES Ten 584,000 158,000 130,000 136,000 73,000 88,000
16 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 583,000 177,000 138,000 120,000 92,000 56,000
21 BUSH SLAM ABC1 431,000 123,000 131,000 78,000 41,000 58,000
23 SYRIANA Nine 398,000 94,000 138,000 63,000 52,000 51,000
25 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 379,000 142,000 112,000 40,000 46,000 40,000
38 BIG LOVE SBS ONE 200,000 58,000 57,000 34,000 19,000 31,000
39 SICKO SBS ONE 195,000 71,000 64,000 26,000 16,000 18,000
53 UGLY BETTY 7TWO 151,000 39,000 56,000 22,000 12,000 22,000 61,000 69,000
What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,370,000 292,000 393,000 268,000 180,000 237,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,234,000 269,000 370,000 230,000 160,000 205,000
3 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,220,000 352,000 419,000 247,000 86,000 116,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,185,000 321,000 404,000 254,000 85,000 120,000
5 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT -EP2 Nine 1,057,000 312,000 377,000 161,000 82,000 125,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT -EP1 Nine 989,000 263,000 348,000 177,000 83,000 118,000
7 THE MENTALIST -RPT Nine 988,000 241,000 306,000 189,000 113,000 139,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC1 965,000 255,000 300,000 164,000 93,000 152,000
9 THE MIDDLE Nine 897,000 246,000 321,000 134,000 82,000 113,000
11 TENNIS: 2010 AUST OPEN - DAY 1 NIGHT SESSION Seven 791,000 218,000 299,000 135,000 86,000 53,000
14 TOP GEAR SBS ONE 714,000 203,000 188,000 148,000 75,000 100,000
15 SPEED RPT Ten 664,000 220,000 186,000 103,000 66,000 89,000
18 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 633,000 180,000 188,000 111,000 91,000 62,000
20 MAN VS WILD SBS ONE 603,000 154,000 147,000 136,000 85,000 81,000
21 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 537,000 170,000 179,000 58,000
24 DESTINATION: FIFA WORLD CUP SBS ONE 411,000 89,000 110,000 95,000 57,000 60,000
39 HEARTBEAT 7TWO 214,000 40,000 59,000 43,000 27,000 45,000
40 MOTHER AND SON 7TWO 198,000 33,000 69,000 38,000 20,000 38,000
68 THE WOTWOTS-AM ABC1 119,000 17,000 70,000 10,000 13,000 9,000
69 THE WOTWOTS-PM ABC2 119,000 35,000 41,000 4,000 15,000 23,000
The ratings race, updated 10 am Monday
The reason our chart today is graced by a pic of Jerry Seinfeld is that he was the creator of a show called The Marriage Ref, which apparently was previewed last night. Question for the forum: How does it look? Will it be the Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation of 2010?
What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 THE MARRIAGE REF: SNEAK PEEK Seven 1,226,000 319,000 351,000 269,000 120,000 167,000
2 COASTWATCH Seven 1,196,000 299,000 342,000 278,000 109,000 168,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,182,000 270,000 296,000 265,000 136,000 215,000
4 BORDER PATROL-SUN Seven 1,172,000 269,000 324,000 297,000 114,000 168,000
5 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,167,000 320,000 416,000 206,000 107,000 118,000
6 I DREAMED A DREAM - THE SUSAN BOYLE STORY Nine 1,131,000 295,000 381,000 229,000 100,000 125,000
7 BONES (R) Seven 1,043,000 266,000 273,000 249,000 127,000 129,000
8 MIGHTY SHIPS Seven 1,025,000 222,000 262,000 231,000 136,000 173,000
9 M-OYSTER FARMER ABC1 899,000 293,000 235,000 182,000 76,000 114,000
10 CASTLE Seven 829,000 211,000 248,000 159,000 103,000 108,000
11 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 758,000 170,000 251,000 174,000 84,000 79,000
12 THIRD TEST - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN Nine 754,000 196,000 237,000 140,000 82,000 99,000
13 THE BIG BANG THEORY -RPT Nine 732,000 167,000 235,000 175,000 91,000 65,000
14 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC1 710,000 192,000 211,000 153,000 59,000 95,000
15 HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK RPT Ten 701,000 194,000 230,000 113,000 82,000 82,000
16 MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED AND FABULOUS -RPT Nine 684,000 190,000 250,000 109,000 72,000 63,000
23 COLLATERAL RPT Ten 394,000 92,000 138,000 59,000 53,000 51,000
24 UNEXPLAINED SBS ONE 314,000 88,000 113,000 54,000 31,000 28,000
31 JOHNNY O'KEEFE: THE WILD ONE ABC1 206,000 72,000 48,000 45,000 21,000 19,000
80 CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM GO! 94,000 44,000 34,000 2,000 7,000 7,000
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in whoweare-index at 09:56 AM
- Comments (70)
The Tribal Mind: When a simple bit of sci-fi becomes a Rorschach test
by David Dale
Two things followed immediately upon this column's assertion last week that Avatar needs a more interesting plot to match its visual splendour: 1) Avatar became the highest grossing film in Australian history, selling $69 million worth of tickets in 4 weeks; 2) Cardinal George Pell, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, condemned it as "old-fashioned pagan propaganda".
Other commentators have complained that Avatar promotes a leftist or greenie agenda, but Cardinal Pell knows where the real danger lies. He is an expert on the activities of pagan propagandists. Back in 2001, he warned: "We must not allow the situation to deteriorate as it had in Elijah's time, 850 years before Christ, where monotheism was nearly swamped by the aggressive paganism of the followers of Baal." (Baal was a Phoenician fertility god).
Now it would seem that Baal is back, in the person of writer-director James Cameron. Cardinal Pell is disturbed by Cameron's speculation that a planet might function as a giant organic computer into which all living things are connected. Reviewing Avatar in The Sunday Telegraph last Sunday, he wrote: "Worship of the powerful forces of nature is half right, a primitive stage in the movement towards acknowledging the one: the single transcendent God, above and beyond nature. It is a symptom of our age that Hollywood is pumping out this old-fashioned pagan propaganda".
Avatar has managed what no other piece of popular culture has achieved in living memory - it dragged the intellectuals, the philosophers, and the academics out of their ivory towers and into the multiplex, curious to see what had made the vulgar masses so excited. Then it polarised them.
In Britain, the social theorist George Monbiot came down on the opposite side from Cardinal Pell. Writing in The Guardian, he said Avatar is "both profoundly silly and profound ... it speaks of a truth more important - and more dangerous - than those contained in a thousand arthouse movies. The metaphor is conscious and precise: this is the story of European engagement with the native peoples of the Americas" (so not Iraq and not Vietnam, as others have suggested).
Monbiot believes it symbolises the brutality with which Europeans have exploited "the New World" since the time of Christopher Columbus (whose soldiers "tore babies from their mothers and dashed their heads against rocks" and "ordered all the native people to deliver a certain amount of gold every three months; anyone who failed had his hands cut off".)
For the deep thinkers, Avatar has become an inkblot test, into which they read meanings that reveal more about themselves than about the film. All sides agree that this is powerful propaganda. They differ on what it is doing to its audience.
To reassure George Pell that fewer people have been brainwashed into paganism than he feared, and to disappoint George Monbiot that fewer people have been radicalised about indigenous rights than he hoped, we offer two charts ...
The films that made the most money in Australia:
1 Avatar (2009) $69 million
2 Titanic (1997) $58m
3 Shrek 2 (2004) $50.5m
4 The Return of the King (2003) $49.5m
5 Crocodile Dundee (1986) $48m
6 Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $47.5m
7 The Dark Knight (2008) $46m
8 The Two Towers (2002) $46m.
The films that sold the most tickets in Australia:
1 The Sound of Music (1965 and later reshowings)
2 Crocodile Dundee (1986)
3 Star Wars (1977 and 97)
4 Gone With The Wind (1939 and reshowings)
5 Titanic (1997)
6 E.T (1982)
7 Dr Zhivago (1966)
8 Grease (1978 and reshowings).
(For full details, go to The films Australia loved).
So the film seen by the greatest number of people in this country is The Sound of Music (which some might call "old-fashioned Catholic propaganda"). At modern ticket prices, Avatar will need to gross $100 million to surpass Maria's audience. Reaching that figure is about as likely as a land converted to paganism or a Spanish apology for Columbus.
Go to Comments to discuss whether Avatar is anti-God.
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 04:12 AM
- Comments (15)
WHO WE ARE: Take the words right out of our mouth
To discuss how to deepen the storyline of Avatar, go to The Tribal Mind.
A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 10/1/2010
HEY, wassup? Going forward, am I about to plate-up for you a nicely nuanced fusion of the toxic legacy of language passed on from 2009 to 2010? Yes I am, and I'm not Greching.
Doesn't quite work, that paragraph, partly because some of the terms I forced into it did not survive the leap from last year to this.
Back in February, this column prematurely declared the 2009 BWOTY (Buzz Word of the Year) to be the conversion of "nuance" from noun to verb, after the former Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, said this in an interview: "Have I seen attempts to nuance information to cover for mistakes? Yes. Have I seen nuanced information in an attempt to produce outcomes that are more favourable to those who are responsible for the issue? Yes."
(Note his clever use of another rhetorical technique - asking yourself a question and answering it. Fitzgibbon also liked to start sentences with the useful phrase "going forward" or "moving forward").
The former Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull went on to become the nabob of nuancing, and caused the newsletter Crikey to declare: "His economic message on the stimulus packages ... has more nuance than, well, Nuanced Jack McNuance, winner of this year's Mr Nuance competition."
For a while it looked as if the name of Godwin Grech, the man who started Turnbull's fall from grace, would be added to the language as a synonym for trick, manipulate or distort. But Australians are not so cruel. When they learned that he was residing in a mental hospital, they stopped accusing each other of Greching the truth.
And nuancing vanished with the rise of Tony Abbott, a man determined to see only black and white. Turnbull had tried to nuance the Government's climate change policy, instead of opposing it, and thus nuanced himself out of a job. Abbott's contribution to public discourse was the adjective "toxic". After he described Kevin Rudd as "a toxic bore", we started hearing about toxic assets, toxic legacies and toxic bachelors.
Mercifully, that word was not applied to any of the contestants on MasterChef, which made its contribution to the national vocabulary with "plating-up" - composing your food like a work of art. The program was so popular with all demographics there were tales of eight year old boys who complained that their school lunches had been improperly plated-up.
The pioneer of plating-up, long before the term entered general usage, was Cheong Liew, the chef at The Grange restaurant in Adelaide. He is credited with introducing the multicultural mix called "fusion cuisine" in Australia, more than 20 years ago. Fusion briefly re-entered the national conversation when the news broke in October that The Grange was closing down.
When I ate there ten years ago, my first course consisted of eight tiny tastes composed around a large white plate. Delivering it, the waiter said: "Chef suggests you eat these clockwise, starting from the 6 o'clock position." Now that's plating-up.
And while we're talking about conspicuous consumption, last year saw the word "piccolo" added to the repertoire of coffee shops across the land. This year we should see a further expansion with the arrival of the "cortado" - a permutation of espresso and steamed milk currently a fad in Madrid, Lisbon and London.
Can you go to comments to nominate other expressions likely to drive us crazy this year? Yes, you can.
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in whoweare-index at 08:57 AM
- Comments (6)
Who We Are Exclusive: The least-watched shows on free to air television
This week's forum is now a heritage item - worth studying but no longer current. For the latest on Australian attitudes and media trends, go to blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To discuss if Avatar promotes the worship of Baal, go to The Tribal Mind.
To nominate the buzz words of 2010, go to Who We Are.
The ratings race, updated 10 am Sunday
So this is why the big networks were given new digital stations -- so Channel Seven could show AFL matches from 1995 and Channel Nine could show My Gym Partner is a Monkey and Channel Ten could show repeats of replays of US college basketball. Read the bottom of the OzTAM chart (below) and never complain again about lack of choice.
Talking about small numbers, this was Pay TV's account of itself for the week: "Interest and viewership in the domestic Twenty20 cricket competition continues to grow with viewing levels regularly reaching near record levels. As an example, last Sunday's coverage of WA vs Victoria, Live: Cricket: Twenty20 Big Bash on FOX Sports, drew 216,000 people and the rain-affected NSW/Queensland game on Wednesday night was watched by 210,000 viewers. In other sport, Live: Football: A-League Perth v Sydney was seen by 76,000 people and the Saturday A-League game between Melbourne and Perth was watched by 65,000 people (all on FOX Sports).
"In entertainment programming, the new season of American Idol began with 140,000 people watching American Idol Auditions on Wednesday night and 126,000 viewers witnessed former Rabbitohs player Garth Wood win the finale of Live: The Contender Australia. The Inspector Lynley Mysteries on UKTV had its best result of the past year with 106,00 viewers, Taggart on 13th Street was watched by 87,000 people and 87,000 watched Location, Location, Location on Lifestyle Channel. Heartbeat premiered on UKTV with 71,000 people, How I met Your Mother on Arena had its best ever result with 71,000 viewers and similarly Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan on Bio. had its best result with 69,000 people viewers.
Subscription TV channels won the third week of 2010 with 25.9% of all metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight, 22.8% of all regional viewing and 62.7% of all viewing in subscription TV homes."
What Australia watched, and didn't, week ending January 16
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,266,000 290,000 325,000 300,000 148,000 202,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,206,000 318,000 365,000 208,000 142,000 173,000
3 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,197,000 238,000 466,000 197,000 195,000 101,000
4 COASTWATCH Seven 1,192,000 249,000 348,000 293,000 143,000 159,000
5 MIDSOMER MURDERS RPT ABC1 1,145,000 284,000 317,000 238,000 149,000 157,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 1,142,000 300,000 395,000 232,000 108,000 108,000
7 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,128,000 299,000 325,000 210,000 133,000 161,000
8 BORDER PATROL-SUN Seven 1,128,000 241,000 316,000 282,000 123,000 166,000
9 BONES (R) Seven 1,068,000 246,000 269,000 259,000 153,000 141,000
10 MIGHTY SHIPS: BECRUX Seven 1,037,000 247,000 236,000 267,000 128,000 159,000
11 BORDER PATROL-MON Seven 1,029,000 286,000 263,000 222,000 120,000 138,000
12 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,028,000 281,000 271,000 207,000 114,000 155,000
13 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,028,000 259,000 368,000 210,000 85,000 106,000
14 THE MENTALIST -RPT Nine 1,021,000 288,000 302,000 192,000 128,000 110,000
15 DESTROYED IN SECONDS Seven 995,000 275,000 252,000 201,000 124,000 144,000
16 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 984,000 292,000 332,000 180,000 104,000 76,000
17 ABC NEWS ABC1 973,000 251,000 306,000 169,000 104,000 144,000
18 SURVIVOR: SAMOA -EP2 Nine 919,000 309,000 263,000 173,000 69,000 105,000
19 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS SUMMER Seven 889,000 232,000 266,000 168,000 92,000 131,000
20 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-SUMMER Seven 875,000 228,000 268,000 175,000 91,000 114,000
21 SURVIVOR: SAMOA -EP1 Nine 837,000 275,000 238,000 171,000 65,000 87,000
22 ABC NEWS-SA ABC1 828,000 240,000 255,000 148,000 93,000 92,000
23 TAGGART-EV ABC1 823,000 196,000 236,000 162,000 120,000 110,000
24 NCIS RPT Ten 822,000 216,000 216,000 154,000 109,000 127,000
25 CSI: MIAMI -RPT Nine 819,000 195,000 244,000 176,000 134,000 70,000
26 20 TO 1 Nine 817,000 179,000 274,000 157,000 121,000 86,000
27 CASTLE (R) Seven 807,000 203,000 246,000 129,000 133,000 97,000
28 THE ALL NEW SIMPSONS WED Ten 807,000 214,000 275,000 145,000 85,000 89,000
29 NO LEAVE NO LIFE Seven 804,000 200,000 217,000 179,000 95,000 113,000
30 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS-WED Seven 800,000 187,000 226,000 187,000 82,000 118,000
940 MY GYM PARTNER IS A MONKEY GO! 9,000 1,000 2,000 1,000 2,000 2,000
943 BEACH VOLLEYBALL: FIVB WORLD TOUR 2009 RPT ONE 9,000 1,000 3,000 4,000 0 1,000
944 FRENCH NEWS SBS ONE 9,000 4,000 1,000 2,000 1,000 1,000
948 THIS IS YOUR DAY WITH BENNY HINN RPT Ten 8,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 0 2,000
951 COUNT DUCKULA 7TWO 8,000 2,000 1,000 2,000 2,000 1,000
957 BLUE WATER HIGH-EV ABC3 8,000 3,000 0 0 3,000 2,000
960 I FISH RPT ONE 8,000 1,000 5,000 2,000 0 0
961 LIFE TODAY WITH JAMES ROBISON Ten 8,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 1,000 2,000
962 CHINESE NEWS SBS ONE 8,000 0 7,000 1,000 0 0
963 NFL GAME DAY ONE 8,000 3,000 0 2,000 1,000 1,000
971 COLLEGE BASKETBALL REPLAY ONE 7,000 1,000 2,000 3,000 1,000 0
972 KRATT BROS: BE THE CREATURE-PM ABC3 7,000 4,000 0 0 2,000 1,000
973 HOUR OF POWER Ten 7,000 3,000 0 4,000 0 0
974 YAKKITY YAK-PM ABC3 7,000 5,000 0 0 1,000 1,000
980 LIVE FROM ABBEY ROAD-LE ABC2 7,000 3,000 1,000 1,000 0 1,000
981 COLLEGE BASKETBALL REPLAY RPT ONE 7,000 3,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 0
988 SORRY FOR KUNG FU RPT SBS TWO 6,000 4,000 3,000 0 0 0
991 WEATHERWATCH OVERNIGHT SBS ONE 6,000 1,000 4,000 1,000 0 0
994 HONG KONG NEWS SBS ONE 6,000 0 5,000 1,000 0 0
995 MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE 7TWO 6,000 2,000 0 1,000 1,000 2,000
1026 ITALIAN NEWS SBS ONE 4,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 0 1,000
1031 RUSSIAN NEWS SBS ONE 4,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 0 1,000
1038 HUNGARIAN NEWS SBS ONE 3,000 0 1,000 2,000 0 0
1039 THE SLEEPOVER CLUB-EV ABC3 3,000 3,000 0 0 0 0
1046 FOOTBALL: SERIE A REPLAY RPT ONE 2,000 1,000 0 0 0 1,000
1049 GREEK NEWS SBS ONE 2,000 0 0 1,000 0 0
1050 SKIPPY - THE BUSH KANGAROO Nine 2,000 2,000
1051 HOME SHOPPING (R) 7TWO 2,000 0 0 0 0 2,000
1052 AVENGER PENGUINS 7TWO 2,000 1,000 0 0 1,000 0
1053 SEVEN'S AFL: 1990 QUALIFYING FINAL - COLLINGWOOD V WEST COAS 7TWO 2,000 1,000 1,000 0 0 1,000
1054 EAST OF EVERYTHING-LE ABC2 2,000 0 1,000 1,000 0 0
1058 DIGIMON DATA SQUAD 7TWO 2,000 0 0 1,000 0 0
1059 WIND IN THE WILLOWS 7TWO 2,000 0 0 0 1,000 1,000
1061 CAN WE HELP?-EM ABC2 1,000 0 0 1,000 0 0
1062 HOME SHOPPING 7TWO 1,000 0 0 0 0 1,000
1063 ARABIC NEWS SBS TWO 1,000 0 1,000 0 0 0
1073 SEVEN'S AFL: 1995 RND 3 - FITZROY V FREMANTLE 7TWO 1,000 0 0 0 0 1,000
1074 SPANISH NEWS 1 SBS TWO 1,000 0 0 1,000 0 0
1075 YIN YANG YO! 7TWO 1,000 0 0 0 0 0
1076 WEATHERWATCH & MUSIC SBS TWO 1,000 0 0 0 0 0
1077 RUSSIAN NEWS 1 SBS TWO 1,000 0 0 0 0 0
1078 AUSTRALIA V NZ GOLF SKINS CHALLENGE RPT ONE 1,000 0 0 0 0 0
1079 GERMAN NEWS SBS TWO 1,000 0 0 0 0 0
(OzTAM mainland capitals)
What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,028,000 281,000 271,000 207,000 114,000 155,000
2 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 984,000 292,000 332,000 180,000 104,000 76,000
3 ABC NEWS-SA ABC1 828,000 240,000 255,000 148,000 93,000 92,000
4 TAGGART ABC1 823,000 196,000 236,000 162,000 120,000 110,000
5 NO LEAVE NO LIFE Seven 804,000 200,000 217,000 179,000 95,000 113,000
6 THE BILL ABC1 786,000 213,000 193,000 155,000 116,000 110,000
7 BORDERLINE Seven 737,000 192,000 205,000 170,000 73,000 97,000
8 THIRD TEST - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN Nine 717,000 212,000 215,000 130,000 77,000 82,000
9 WIPEOUT Nine 673,000 175,000 200,000 148,000 88,000 63,000
12 BED OF ROSES RPT ABC1 545,000 146,000 132,000 126,000 67,000 75,000
14 REBUS RPT ABC1 513,000 112,000 179,000 70,000 79,000 74,000
15 BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II RPT Ten 513,000 171,000 143,000 78,000 63,000 58,000
19 MYTHBUSTERS RPT SBS ONE 408,000 102,000 137,000 67,000 44,000 59,000
24 BLACK HAWK DOWN RPT Ten 310,000 96,000 103,000 54,000 28,000 30,000
25 IRON CHEF SBS ONE 294,000 77,000 124,000 35,000 30,000 28,000
26 M-GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS Seven 276,000 70,000 92,000 55,000 36,000 22,000
28 ROCKWIZ RPT SBS ONE 252,000 67,000 93,000 49,000 24,000 19,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS Nine 1,151,000 327,000 398,000 213,000 112,000 101,000
2 MIDSOMER MURDERS RPT ABC1 1,145,000 284,000 317,000 238,000 149,000 157,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,087,000 275,000 322,000 212,000 123,000 155,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,013,000 265,000 296,000 196,000 113,000 143,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 947,000 264,000 302,000 187,000 89,000 105,000
6 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS SUMMER Seven 889,000 232,000 266,000 168,000 92,000 131,000
What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS Nine 1,206,000 341,000 410,000 242,000 113,000 100,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,161,000 358,000 353,000 158,000 118,000 175,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,085,000 329,000 312,000 167,000 118,000 159,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,017,000 244,000 366,000 222,000 86,000 98,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC1 980,000 263,000 304,000 144,000 116,000 153,000
6 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-SUMMER Seven 862,000 232,000 263,000 164,000 100,000 104,000
7 7.30 REPORT SUMMER EDITION ABC1 802,000 265,000 216,000 128,000 71,000 122,000
8 GARY UNMARRIED-THU Seven 764,000 185,000 214,000 170,000 99,000 94,000
9 SECRET MILLIONAIRE -RPT Nine 707,000 225,000 167,000 152,000 67,000 96,000
10 RESCUE SPECIAL OPS -RPT Nine 688,000 174,000 192,000 124,000 92,000 106,000
13 CSI: NY Nine 650,000 167,000 194,000 103,000 99,000 86,000
15 FRANCESCO'S MEDITERRANEAN VOYAGE ABC1 637,000 216,000 168,000 102,000 61,000 91,000
18 SEVEN AGES OF ROCK ABC1 562,000 154,000 173,000 88,000 76,000 71,000
21 THIRD TEST - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN Nine 518,000 155,000 166,000 87,000 55,000 56,000
23 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 506,000 144,000 142,000 88,000 73,000 60,000
31 OZ AND JAMES'S BIG WINE ADVENTURE SBS ONE 328,000 99,000 115,000 59,000 23,000 32,000
34 GOURMET FARMER SBS ONE 302,000 94,000 94,000 47,000 24,000 43,000
63 UFC WIRED ONE 138,000 26,000 34,000 50,000 27,000 0
72 FIFTH GEAR 7TWO 121,000 17,000 49,000 26,000 11,000 18,000
87 FRIDAY ON MY MIND RPT SBS ONE 98,000 26,000 24,000 27,000 10,000 11,000
89 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC2 95,000 26,000 31,000 15,000 10,000 13,000
100 E.R. GO! 83,000 23,000 27,000 15,000 11,000 7,000
116 CLASSIC ALBUMS: DURAN DURAN - RIO SBS ONE 69,000 15,000 16,000 18,000 6,000 14,000
161 THE COLBERT REPORT ABC2 44,000 4,000 6,000 14,000 14,000 6,000
What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,181,000 304,000 354,000 200,000 141,000 181,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,110,000 282,000 321,000 206,000 134,000 167,000
3 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,018,000 273,000 354,000 212,000 76,000 104,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 963,000 288,000 325,000 240,000 109,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC1 960,000 260,000 308,000 146,000 95,000 151,000
6 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-SUMMER Seven 924,000 240,000 296,000 167,000 96,000 126,000
7 THE ALL NEW SIMPSONS WED Ten 807,000 214,000 275,000 145,000 85,000 89,000
8 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS-WED Seven 800,000 187,000 226,000 187,000 82,000 118,000
12 CITY HOMICIDE-WED (R) Seven 747,000 176,000 212,000 152,000 85,000 122,000
15 MY FAMILY ABC1 687,000 182,000 201,000 126,000 73,000 105,000
16 THE COMMANDER Nine 653,000 192,000 198,000 83,000 101,000 79,000
17 THE CLEVELAND SHOW Ten 637,000 205,000 192,000 104,000 72,000 64,000
20 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 571,000 141,000 208,000 121,000 54,000 46,000
37 REX IN ROME SBS ONE 263,000 83,000 79,000 40,000 25,000 36,000
45 I SURVIVED A JAPANESE GAME SHOW 7TWO 204,000 38,000 55,000 61,000 21,000 30,000
50 CHANDON PICTURES ABC1 186,000 61,000 36,000 38,000 25,000 26,000
67 SHRINK RAP ABC2 129,000 40,000 46,000 22,000 12,000 9,000
73 NEW AMSTERDAM GO! 120,000 22,000 67,000 6,000 14,000 11,000
74 EATAHOLICS ABC2 119,000 39,000 41,000 16,000 11,000 13,000
84 TIN MAN 7TWO 102,000 10,000 32,000 21,000 16,000 22,000
115 THE MOLE SISTERS ABC2 75,000 31,000 17,000 2,000 13,000 13,000
What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,243,000 319,000 384,000 231,000 151,000 157,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,163,000 301,000 341,000 241,000 139,000 141,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,124,000 273,000 409,000 222,000 107,000 112,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,054,000 240,000 422,000 195,000 84,000 112,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC1 998,000 248,000 320,000 185,000 99,000 146,000
6 SURVIVOR: SAMOA -EP2 Nine 919,000 309,000 263,000 173,000 69,000 105,000
9 SURVIVOR: SAMOA -EP1 Nine 838,000 276,000 238,000 172,000 65,000 87,000
16 BUSH SLAM ABC1 612,000 166,000 180,000 139,000 48,000 78,000
17 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 599,000 156,000 219,000 100,000 69,000 56,000
50 BIG LOVE SBS ONE 191,000 53,000 63,000 24,000 21,000 30,000
57 UGLY BETTY 7TWO 165,000 56,000 46,000 20,000 16,000 27,000
82 THE BACHELORETTE GO! 113,000 29,000 50,000 15,000 13,000 5,000
92 TOOL ACADEMY GO! 103,000 15,000 50,000 11,000 17,000 10,000
131 GO GO STOP Seven 69,000 25,000 15,000 15,000 2,000 12,000
176 THE WIRE ABC2 43,000 16,000 16,000 4,000 3,000 5,000
What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,359,000 335,000 414,000 239,000 175,000 196,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,268,000 317,000 356,000 240,000 161,000 194,000
3 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,107,000 269,000 399,000 235,000 92,000 113,000
4 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,040,000 234,000 351,000 184,000 115,000 157,000
5 BORDER PATROL (R) Seven 1,029,000 286,000 263,000 222,000 120,000 138,000
6 THE MENTALIST -RPT Nine 1,011,000 288,000 300,000 191,000 123,000 110,000
7 DESTROYED IN SECONDS Seven 995,000 275,000 252,000 201,000 124,000 144,000
8 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-SUMMER Seven 983,000 280,000 276,000 201,000 96,000 131,000
14 TOP GEAR SBS ONE 724,000 182,000 194,000 164,000 98,000 86,000
16 THE MIDDLE Nine 692,000 186,000 249,000 139,000 53,000 66,000
17 DOUBLE JEOPARDY RPT Ten 666,000 193,000 224,000 110,000 70,000 69,000
20 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 614,000 165,000 240,000 91,000 51,000 68,000
23 M-DERAILED Seven 587,000 139,000 180,000 116,000 47,000 105,000
28 HG WELLS: WAR WITH THE WORLD ABC1 462,000 157,000 105,000 87,000 51,000 63,000
46 30 ROCK (R) Seven 228,000 59,000 72,000 46,000 24,000 27,000
47 HEARTBEAT 7TWO 222,000 41,000 63,000 35,000 37,000 46,000
61 THE BENNY HILL SHOW 7TWO 161,000 24,000 54,000 21,000 27,000 34,000
76 JUDGE JOHN DEED 7TWO 125,000 23,000 46,000 17,000 25,000 15,000
92 NIP/TUCK GO! 105,000 19,000 38,000 20,000 16,000 12,000
What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,236,000 290,000 325,000 280,000 138,000 202,000
2 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,199,000 238,000 470,000 195,000 194,000 101,000
3 COASTWATCH Seven 1,174,000 249,000 348,000 282,000 135,000 159,000
4 BORDER PATROL-SUN Seven 1,139,000 241,000 316,000 290,000 127,000 166,000
5 BONES (R) Seven 1,080,000 246,000 269,000 270,000 154,000 141,000
6 MIGHTY SHIPS: BECRUX Seven 1,041,000 247,000 236,000 269,000 130,000 159,000
7 CASTLE (R) Seven 826,000 203,000 246,000 145,000 135,000 97,000
8 20 TO 1 Nine 819,000 178,000 275,000 156,000 124,000 86,000
12 DIE HARD: WITH A VENGEANCE RPT Ten 675,000 202,000 200,000 112,000 77,000 84,000
17 M-THE PROPOSITION ABC1 577,000 145,000 169,000 111,000 50,000 102,000
18 TERMINATOR 3 -RPT Nine 493,000 116,000 164,000 104,000 64,000 46,000
25 THE GREAT SPERM RACE SBS ONE 300,000 92,000 63,000 70,000 30,000 45,000
28 DEATH OF THE MEGABEASTS SBS ONE 278,000 77,000 77,000 56,000 30,000 38,000
55 JOHN ADAMS SBS ONE 128,000 38,000 43,000 24,000 10,000 13,000
59 M-GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE 2 7TWO 119,000 8,000 50,000 19,000 20,000 23,000
The ratings race, updated 10am Monday
This was pay TV's account of itself for the week: "The FOX Sports' coverage of the Twenty20 match between WA and NSW, Live: Cricket: Twenty20 Big Bash, topped the week with 186,000 viewers. In other sport, Cricket: World Series Classics on FOX Sports was watched by 70,000 people and Sky Raceday on Sky Racing was seen by 69,000 people.
"In entertainment programming, Midsomer Murders on UKTV was watched by 111,000 people and Family Guy on FOX8 was seen by 107,000 people. Taggart on 13th Street had its best result on the channel with 104,000 viewers, Location, Location, Location on Lifestyle was watched by 92,000 people and Stephen Fry's frivolous quiz program, QI, had its biggest ever audience on UKTV with 85,000 people. NCIS on TV1 was watched by 84,000 people, 16 And Pregnant on MTV had 64,000 viewers and Pulp Fiction on Movie Greats was seen by 55,000 people.
"In week 2 of 2010, subscription TV channels accounted for 25.5% of all metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight, 22.5% of all regional viewing and 61.3% of all viewing in subscription TV homes."
What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 991,000 218,000 284,000 229,000 91,000
2 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC1 859,000 208,000 278,000 164,000 99,000
3 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY - EASTER SPECIAL Seven 822,000 193,000 246,000 186,000 88,000
4 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 818,000 189,000 265,000 179,000 110,000
5 NO LEAVE NO LIFE Seven 761,000 181,000 219,000 159,000 72,000
6 KINGDOM Seven 755,000 188,000 218,000 161,000 76,000
7 BORDERLINE Seven 739,000 181,000 194,000 167,000 69,000
8 TAGGART ABC1 731,000 187,000 190,000 142,000 98,000
10 WIPEOUT Nine 651,000 148,000 220,000 135,000 86,000
12 FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF SILVER SURFER RPT Ten 627,000 151,000 180,000 151,000 49,000
13 THE BILL ABC1 622,000 147,000 154,000 129,000 83,000
15 REBUS RPT ABC1 515,000 124,000 168,000 70,000 76,000
16 BED OF ROSES RPT ABC1 510,000 127,000 122,000 123,000 62,000
17 JAWS 2 RPT Ten 510,000 86,000 206,000 100,000 66,000
20 CRUSOE Nine 378,000 99,000 96,000 91,000 52,000
21 MYTHBUSTERS RPT SBS ONE 362,000 73,000 122,000 79,000 43,000
22 DECEMBER BOYS Nine 299,000 106,000 61,000 56,000 50,000
26 ROCKWIZ RPT SBS ONE 247,000 74,000 66,000 57,000 22,000
27 IRON CHEF SBS ONE 246,000 74,000 101,000 34,000 18,000
31 M-I HEART HUCKABEES Seven 224,000 59,000 70,000 54,000 30,000
What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,079,000 217,000 352,000 233,000 139,000 138,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,066,000 202,000 342,000 232,000 148,000 142,000
3 MIDSOMER MURDERS RPT ABC1 1,016,000 318,000 276,000 167,000 126,000 129,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 883,000 222,000 261,000 187,000 109,000 105,000
5 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS SUMMER Seven 837,000 185,000 267,000 154,000 106,000 126,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 799,000 204,000 245,000 143,000 85,000 121,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 758,000 187,000 235,000 171,000 77,000 87,000
15 KING SOLOMON'S MINES -RPT Nine 525,000 142,000 145,000 119,000 59,000 59,000
17 M-FLIGHTPLAN Seven 504,000 113,000 176,000 87,000 53,000 75,000
18 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE FRI Ten 491,000 122,000 150,000 95,000 57,000 68,000
19 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 446,000 113,000 125,000 71,000 66,000 70,000
23 BILLY ELLIOT RPT Ten 403,000 116,000 122,000 73,000 44,000 49,000
32 TRAWLERMEN SBS ONE 266,000 79,000 77,000 59,000 27,000 23,000
37 EROTIC TALES 2 RPT SBS ONE 217,000 62,000 67,000 37,000 26,000 24,000
38 THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW ABC1 199,000 62,000 65,000 28,000 21,000 22,000
49 TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH ABC2 175,000 59,000 45,000 33,000 18,000 20,000
50 EROTIC TALES 1 RPT SBS ONE 171,000 58,000 45,000 27,000 24,000 17,000
53 CHANT OF THE SCRUB TURKEY RPT ABC1 163,000 28,000 30,000 49,000 24,000 32,000
60 OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE Ten 137,000 29,000 47,000 16,000 18,000 27,000
What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,122,000 282,000 322,000 228,000 135,000 155,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,062,000 239,000 309,000 219,000 144,000 152,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 961,000 290,000 260,000 227,000 94,000 90,000
4 ABC NEWS ABC1 836,000 216,000 237,000 157,000 90,000 135,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 823,000 234,000 234,000 201,000 77,000 78,000
6 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 721,000 183,000 230,000 126,000 91,000 90,000
7 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-SUMMER Seven 711,000 194,000 158,000 162,000 86,000 111,000
8 7.30 REPORT SUMMER EDITION ABC1 701,000 190,000 183,000 164,000 61,000 103,000
9 SEVEN AGES OF ROCK ABC1 694,000 179,000 190,000 151,000 75,000 100,000
17 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 530,000 153,000 149,000 79,000 77,000 73,000
18 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 527,000 160,000 153,000 117,000 53,000 45,000
28 M-JAPANESE STORY Seven 423,000 101,000 103,000 113,000 59,000 48,000
31 OZ AND JAMES'S BIG WINE ADVENTURE SBS ONE 320,000 75,000 115,000 63,000 27,000 40,000
35 GOURMET FARMER SBS ONE 278,000 71,000 102,000 58,000 16,000 31,000
48 STARGATE ATLANTIS 7TWO 182,000 40,000 44,000 53,000 27,000 18,000
51 MOTHER AND SON 7TWO 160,000 31,000 55,000 35,000 22,000 18,000
52 THE BIPOLAR BEARS SBS ONE 155,000 32,000 64,000 30,000 12,000 17,000
68 THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW ABC2 121,000 18,000 49,000 30,000 15,000 9,000
84 FIFTH GEAR 7TWO 94,000 24,000 8,000 35,000 13,000 14,000
92 BEWITCHED GO! 89,000 26,000 22,000 9,000 13,000 20,000
96 SEINFELD GO! 85,000 13,000 37,000 14,000 9,000 12,000
What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,184,000 266,000 328,000 226,000 164,000 199,000
2 NINE NEWS Nine 1,132,000 356,000 346,000 252,000 97,000 81,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,084,000 243,000 278,000 226,000 152,000 185,000
4 ABC NEWS ABC1 988,000 254,000 276,000 176,000 103,000 178,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 966,000 279,000 315,000 229,000 73,000 70,000
6 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS-WED Seven 817,000 180,000 196,000 212,000 104,000 124,000
7 COLD CASE -RPT Nine 776,000 202,000 235,000 141,000 97,000 100,000
14 SECOND TEST - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN Nine 695,000 205,000 221,000 128,000 77,000 63,000
16 THE COMMANDER Nine 672,000 177,000 225,000 88,000 99,000 83,000
21 THE CLEVELAND SHOW Ten 552,000 139,000 155,000 99,000 80,000 79,000
22 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 541,000 127,000 157,000 137,000 63,000 57,000
27 BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE ABC1 413,000 89,000 131,000 85,000 41,000 66,000
30 CALIFORNICATION WED EP 2 Ten 368,000 95,000 138,000 49,000 52,000 33,000
31 CALIFORNICATION WED Ten 367,000 113,000 133,000 54,000 43,000 25,000
38 REX IN ROME SBS ONE 234,000 64,000 76,000 39,000 23,000 32,000
44 PLAY SCHOOL-AM ABC1 196,000 57,000 71,000 12,000 19,000 37,000
45 CHANDON PICTURES ABC1 196,000 51,000 45,000 35,000 32,000 32,000
What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,224,000 312,000 369,000 242,000 143,000 157,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,168,000 310,000 325,000 229,000 147,000 157,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,166,000 316,000 388,000 240,000 124,000 98,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 980,000 276,000 324,000 208,000 93,000 80,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC1 967,000 260,000 268,000 207,000 94,000 139,000
6 7.30 REPORT SUMMER EDITION ABC1 904,000 230,000 286,000 194,000 83,000 110,000
7 SURVIVOR: SAMOA -EP1 Nine 837,000 294,000 241,000 138,000 71,000 94,000
8 SURVIVOR: SAMOA -EP2 Nine 815,000 309,000 210,000 131,000 73,000 92,000
9 LAKE EYRE: AUSTRALIA'S OUTBACK WONDER ABC1 801,000 199,000 256,000 148,000 108,000 91,000
12 BUSH SLAM ABC1 730,000 189,000 209,000 160,000 75,000 97,000
17 GARY UNMARRIED-TUE Seven 664,000 174,000 145,000 159,000 99,000 87,000
18 SECOND TEST - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN Nine 651,000 184,000 210,000 125,000 70,000 62,000
21 THE 7PM PROJECT Ten 518,000 121,000 195,000 91,000 65,000 46,000
22 MALCOM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 511,000 127,000 159,000 67,000 69,000 89,000
38 30 ROCK (R) Seven 231,000 68,000 86,000 34,000 20,000 24,000
39 THE CIRCUIT SBS ONE 229,000 94,000 50,000 39,000 30,000 16,000
46 THE CUT RPT ABC1 183,000 43,000 52,000 34,000 27,000 26,000
56 UGLY BETTY 7TWO 159,000 47,000 35,000 37,000 10,000 31,000
59 HOUSE TUES RPT Ten 148,000 42,000 55,000 21,000 20,000 10,000
63 POIROT RPT ABC1 137,000 32,000 47,000 21,000 18,000 18,000
What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,274,000 311,000 352,000 242,000 175,000 194,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,231,000 309,000 325,000 229,000 185,000 183,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,203,000 335,000 419,000 237,000 104,000 108,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,086,000 278,000 360,000 243,000 102,000 104,000
5 DESTROYED IN SECONDS Seven 990,000 262,000 236,000 216,000 114,000 161,000
6 THE MENTALIST -RPT Nine 985,000 238,000 302,000 199,000 142,000 104,000
7 ABC NEWS ABC1 976,000 213,000 313,000 199,000 115,000 136,000
8 CSI: MIAMI Nine 874,000 219,000 233,000 176,000 149,000 97,000
13 THE MIDDLE Nine 745,000 205,000 236,000 145,000 73,000 85,000
15 TOP GEAR SBS ONE 716,000 173,000 214,000 163,000 94,000 72,000
17 ELDERS WITH ANDREW DENTON RPT ABC1 671,000 180,000 190,000 146,000 71,000 84,000
19 SECOND TEST - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN Nine 605,000 184,000 173,000 121,000 60,000 67,000
20 MAN VS WILD SBS ONE 594,000 193,000 156,000 110,000 60,000 74,000
21 MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Ten 587,000 147,000 179,000 114,000 76,000 71,000
31 MAKE 'EM LAUGH: THE FUNNY BUSINESS OF AMERICA ABC1 372,000 113,000 133,000 51,000 45,000 31,000
33 SUNRISE Seven 324,000 76,000 59,000 115,000 25,000 49,000
40 TODAY Nine 240,000 83,000 72,000 69,000 13,000 2,000
45 30 ROCK (R) Seven 212,000 67,000 72,000 31,000 22,000 20,000
51 HEARTBEAT 7TWO 205,000 54,000 64,000 28,000 27,000 32,000
68 DOCTOR WHO ABC2 127,000 37,000 25,000 27,000 25,000 14,000
74 JUDGE JOHN DEED 7TWO 121,000 10,000 51,000 26,000 23,000 11,000
89 THE NANNY GO! 84,000 19,000 28,000 22,000 5,000 10,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,425,000 344,000 396,000 353,000 156,000 177,000
2 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,285,000 334,000 444,000 254,000 139,000 115,000
3 MIGHTY SHIPS: FAUST Seven 1,035,000 231,000 284,000 250,000 120,000 149,000
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,023,000 274,000 390,000 144,000 108,000 105,000
5 BORDER PATROL-SUN Seven 1,022,000 216,000 272,000 268,000 108,000 158,000
6 BONES (R) Seven 1,020,000 254,000 264,000 248,000 123,000 131,000
7 20 TO 1 -RPT Nine 910,000 302,000 390,000 118,000 100,000
8 THE BIG BANG THEORY -RPT Nine 817,000 186,000 309,000 161,000 75,000 86,000
9 ABC NEWS-SU ABC1 777,000 186,000 210,000 158,000 77,000 147,000
10 SECOND TEST - AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN Nine 718,000 182,000 218,000 153,000 86,000 79,000
13 M-WAH-WAH ABC1 650,000 147,000 211,000 123,000 65,000 104,000
14 TROY -RPT Nine 629,000 155,000 214,000 133,000 66,000 62,000
16 DIE HARD 2 RPT Ten 531,000 124,000 173,000 113,000 58,000 63,000
34 M-THE LOVE BUG 2: HERBIE RIDES AGAIN Seven 209,000 85,000 56,000 43,000 24,000
39 WIPEOUT AUSTRALIA GO! 180,000 34,000 47,000 55,000 21,000 24,000
49 M-FINDING NEVERLAND 7TWO 136,000 27,000 47,000 18,000 29,000 15,000
56 JOHN ADAMS SBS ONE 113,000 29,000 40,000 21,000 14,000 10,000
58 M-THE LOVE BUG 2: HERBIE RIDES AGAIN 7TWO 105,000 24,000 33,000 10,000 23,000 14,000
59 OLIVIA-AM ABC2 104,000 35,000 41,000 7,000 12,000 8,000
63 ARTHUR ABC2 94,000 28,000 40,000 5,000 12,000 8,000
69 GREEN ACRES GO! 90,000 14,000 34,000 9,000 24,000 8,000
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in whoweare-index at 09:32 AM
- Comments (73)
The Tribal Mind: Can you give Avatar a deeper story?
To nominate the buzz words of 2010 -- cortado, for example -- go to Who We Are.
by David Dale
IT HAS become trendy among conservative commentators to condemn Avatar as a piece of hippy commie propaganda that will turn our children into suicide bombers. Or do I exaggerate? The test of this theory will come at the next federal election, when there will be a swing of 68 per cent to the Greens if Avatar's 4 million ticket buyers have really been brainwashed in the way the commentators suggest.
Their fear of James Cameron's powers as a propagandist no doubt arose from the long-term influence of his last MEMEM (Most Expensive Movie Ever Made). Back in 1997, Titanic was seen by 6 million Australians. A Nielsen survey published recently in The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that 56 per cent of adults -- 9 million of us -- believe in heaven (while only 38 per cent believe in hell).
Instead of taking John Lennon's advice -- "Imagine there's no heaven" -- most Australians apparently prefer Cameron's theory, as expressed in the final moments of the film, that when they die, good people go to a place that looks like the first class lounge of Titanic (pre-iceberg -- presumably evil people go to a place that looks like the same lounge, post-iceberg).
Which brings us to the issue of the day: how would you make Avatar a more interesting story? My problem with the film is not its politics but its predictability. Within the first 15 minutes you can see exactly where it's going. It's beautiful but shallow -- especially on second viewing.
As a writer-director, Cameron wasn't always so superficial. Terminator and Terminator 2 are full of suspenseful twists and intriguing ideas about time travel, destiny and free will. And while Titanic had to follow the broad facts of history (the boat sinks), Cameron managed a surprise ending. We learn that Rose changed her name to escape her nasty mother and boyfriend, built a new life in America and travelled to the exploration vessel with the aim of returning something to the ocean.
She dies in her sleep and arrives in Cameron's afterlife - a scene which raises many fascinating questions. Is every person's heaven individual, so that when we die, each of us returns to the moment in our life when we were at our happiest? This scenario implies that Rose is not meeting the actual souls of the former passengers, but instead a bunch of entertaining clones created as a reward for her goodness.
Or is heaven a shared experience, which means Jack and the other drowned travellers have been waiting around in the first class lounge for 85 years until Rose can join them. And now that she's there, will Titanic miss the iceberg and land in a heavenly version of Manhattan, so the lovers can enjoy the life they would have experienced if there had been enough lifeboats? And then, if they grow old together, do they die again and go to yet another heaven?
Avatar offers no such provocations. It's little more than a spectacular visualisation of the early songs of Midnight Oil (and we hope Cameron is paying Peter Garrett an appropriate commission). So how might we make its storyline match its presentation?
In America, where they obsess over everything, there are now websites devoted to improving the plotline of Avatar (go here for an example). They suggest that Cameron should have made the characters more complex and the issues more difficult.
How about turning the spivvy company rep and the hardbitten colonel into idealists who need the unobtanium to save the earth from devastating drought? So Jake must choose between the survival of the human race and the religious sensibilities of a bunch of blue giants, rather than just between brutal capitalism and benign socialism.
Or how about making the planet's inhabitants less endearing -- perhaps committed to human sacrifice or cannibalism or hallucinogenic drugs or really ugly body piercings? Jake's choice would become much more debatable.
The possibilities are endless, and you can offer your suggestions by going to Comments. To learn what Avatar has in common with the oldest story ever published , go to Gilgamesh.
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
- by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 09:28 AM
- Comments (1)
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